


You're My Home

by saturnring



Category: In the Heights - Miranda/Hudes
Genre: Cute, Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Living Together, M/M, benny doesn't know how to cook and i stand by that headcannon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-02
Updated: 2020-09-02
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:53:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26246707
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saturnring/pseuds/saturnring
Summary: It started with a toothbrush.A new blue toothbrush was now homed on the counter in Usnavi's bathroom, nothing notable. Benny spent the night often, so why wouldn't he? That way, if he forgot one, there was always one waiting so he didn't have to drive back home. It was what friends did. Blue next to red, nothing out of the ordinary.
Relationships: Benny/Usnavi (In the Heights)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 14
Collections: bensnavi month 2020





	You're My Home

**Author's Note:**

> Written for yo_let_me_get_a_milkyway's Bensnavi Month.
> 
> Day 2- Toothbrush
> 
> Did this instead of my homework because my power went out, y'all enjoy

It started with a toothbrush.

A new blue toothbrush was now homed on the counter in Usnavi's bathroom, nothing notable. Benny spent the night often, so why wouldn't he? That way, if he forgot one, there was always one waiting so he didn't have to drive back home. It was what friends did. Blue next to red, nothing out of the ordinary.

* * *

After they started dating, it became other small things. A sweater here, a notebook there. Usnavi would jokingly complain about Benny taking over his limited counter space, and Benny would joke back about how once he went to business school he would pay for a new apartment and he could have all the counter space he wanted.

So when Benny came over, it wasn't uncommon for him to walk into the kitchen and see Usnavi wearing one of his sweaters, humming and slightly swaying to the radio. That's all it was, a toothbrush and some sweaters.

* * *

After three months of being officially together, Benny had a drawer. For some other couples it might have been too soon, but they had known each other for years, so why wouldn't he? It just felt like the natural thing to do. Usnavi didn't even really tell him to take it. It just happened one day, when he finally got fed up with finding Benny's shirts around the apartment.

"If I find one more of your shirts in my kitchen, you're making dinner for the next month," Usnavi threatened, waving a spatula menacingly at him.

Benny laughed, wrapping his arms around his waist. He settled his chin on top of his head in a way that Usnavi always said he hated but Benny knew he actually loved. "You wouldn't dare, I know how much you hate my cooking."

Usnavi freed his arms and wrapped them around his neck, pulling Benny closer. "It still amazes me how you can't cook  _ anything," _ he waved the spatula behind Benny's head incredulously, "Really,  _ how _ did you make it this far if you can't even make  _ arroz y frijoles _ ?"

"It's not my fault the instructions weren't-"

"You shouldn't need instructions! It's rice and beans! How did you mess up  _ rice _ and  _ beans _ of all things?" He dropped his arms from their energetic waving, now looking at Benny, eyebrows raised, for an answer.

"In my defense, they weren't that bad."

"You forgot to add water!"

"It was a one time mistake!"

"You did it twice!"

Benny pulled back from Usnavi, hands still lightly holding his waist. "That's why you shouldn't have me make dinner, unless you want me to set the fire alarms off again."

Usnavi looked unimpressed with his reasoning. He leaned back against the counter and pointed the spatula threateningly. "Either your clothes goes in a drawer or out the window."

Benny leaned in close, whispering, "Really? Because I think it looks better on your fl-"

He earned a swat to the back of the head for that one.

* * *

About six months in, Benny only went back to his apartment every other day. Why would he when almost everything he needed was at Usnavi's apartment?

He had more than a drawer and a toothbrush now. Half of the bathroom counter held his things. When Sonny would come over, he'd joke about how he had almost as much hair stuff as Vanessa, but not even half the hair. Just small things like that, that made Benny think a little more about his place with Usnavi.

A couple of his pictures of his also sat on the shelves. One of his blankets now held a permanent residence on the couch for movie nights and had the butter stains to prove it. His shoes lined up in place next to his boyfriend's. In the mornings, two coffee cups were set out instead of one. The nightstand on his side of the bed held his Advil and a clock set to 5. All the little things that came together to cement his place in that tiny apartment.

It felt like a second home, and Benny wasn't sure whether it was the apartment or just Usnavi.

* * *

It was after a year together that Benny finally realized what had happened.

They were lying on the couch. Benny was running his hand through Usnavi's hair absentmindedly, drifting between focusing on the movie they had put on for one of their "dates" and getting lost in his thoughts. Glancing around the room, he wondered where he left his notebook where he kept track of his rides. It wasn't on the coffee table next to the succulent he bought for Usnavi (because as he had explained to him, "You need a plant but you're barely keeping yourself alive so I don't trust you with anything less than the plant equivalent of a functioning adult." Usnavi had grumbled, but he agreed and now they had a plant that Sonny had affectionately named Accountant Steve.). It also wasn't on the couch, which would have been his second guess because he usually wrote in it while sitting here. He twisted around to see if it was behind him in the kitchen with some of his other notebooks, but he couldn't see it. 

Usnavi grumbled at the movement, and Benny hummed an apology while settling back down. Where could it be? Maybe he left it in his bag by the door? Or maybe it was in the bedroom. He might have set it in his drawer while he was putting away laundry, something he did every Satur-

Benny's mind screeched to a halt. His other notebooks. His drawer. Accountant Steve. The laundry.

"Holy shit."

"What?" Usnavi asked, glancing up. His head was in Benny's lap, his legs sticking off the end of the couch. He looked to be somewhat paying attention to the movie, close to falling asleep.

Benny's mouth gaped like a fish for a second, wondering how he hadn't figured it sooner.

As he struggled to make the words come out, Usnavi pushed himself up, a look of concern on his face. "You good Benny? Because I knew that Chinese place was sketchy and I warned you-"

"No, it's not that," Benny interrupted.

"What is it then?"

"Uh, I- uh," Benny stammered, unsure of how to phrase it, "I'm basically living in your apartment."

Usnavi stared at him. Slowly, he looked around the room.

Benny watched as he took in the things that he had noticed, his eyes also falling on the pictures and his jacket hanging by the door. And to Benny's confusion, he started laughing.

" _ Dios- _ did we really-" he shook with laughter, unable to even get the words out. He leaned further into Benny, burying his laughter in his sweater. " _ Lo siento, _ it isn't this funny-" but that didn't stop the laughing.

Slowly, Benny joined in. He wrapped his arms around Usnavi, holding them both tight so they didn't fall of the couch that was really not big enough for both of them. "Oh my God, I moved in and I didn't even notice-" he wheezed, eyes watering in mirth, "How the  _ hell?" _

__

Usnavi was laughing too hard to answer, and after a few seconds Benny was the same way. Laughing at how oblivious they both were, because  _ how do you not notice when you move and how does the other person not notice when you move into their home?"  _

__

They stayed like that for ten minutes, calming down slightly only for the other one to snort and send them both into renewed rounds of hysterical laughter.

Eventually, they both managed to get themselves control. Benny leaned back against the arm of the couch, and Usnavi disentangled himself from the blanket that had been caught in between them.

"Well, would you like the key?" Usnavi asked, laying his head back down in his lap. "Since you're apparently living here."

"I already have the key, remember? I've had it for years."

Usnavi looked at the ceiling incredulously, rubbing his hands roughly over his face. "How did we not notice?"

Benny shrugged helplessly, "No idea. I've been practically living here for months and I still didn't realize. It's okay if you want me to leave, because I will-"

Usnavi reached up and pulled Benny down for a kiss, effectively cutting him off. It was soft and not rushed, filled with quiet promises. "This is your home, and you're my home," Usnavi whispered, cupping his face in his hands.

Benny gently pressed his forehead to Usnavi's. "And you're my home too."

And sitting there, curled up on a worn couch with his boyfriend, a cheesy rom-com playing quietly on the TV and cars honking their horns outside their window, he found that it was true. He could be living in this apartment, or he could be living in a high rise in SoHo, but the only thing that made those places worth any more than an overpriced box was the man in his arms. Usnavi was his home, had been for well over a decade, and he would always be until the end.

**Author's Note:**

> they are oblivious idiots and they own my entire heart


End file.
